1. Technical Field
This invention relates to musical keyboards and notation systems, and more particularly to a graphic/tactile musical instruction system having a graphic/tactile, symmetrical three-row twelve note whole tone musical keyboard and a nomographic system of music notation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional twelve tone musical keyboard comprises two rows of keys. A row of white keys, all of equal width and length in the area in which they are struck by the player, is positioned relatively nearer to the player, and a row of black keys, again of equal width and length but narrower and shorter than the white keys, is positioned relatively farther away from the player and interposed between adjacent white keys. Each octaval grouping contains eight white keys: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C, and five black keys: C.sup..music-sharp. /D.sub..music-flat., D.sup..music-sharp. /E.sub..music-flat., F.sup..music-sharp. /G.sub..music-flat., G.sup..music-sharp. /A.sub..music-flat. and A.sup..music-sharp./ B.sub..music-flat.. The black keys are interposed respectively between the white key pairs: C-D, D-E, F-G, G-A and A-B.
The conventional keyboard is asymmetrical, in that adjacent keys in the same row are not always separated to the same musical degree. In the white row, C, D and E are separated from each other by a whole tone, but the white key pairs E-F and B-C are separated by only a half-tone. In the black row, F.sup..music-sharp. /G.sub..music-flat., G.sup..music-sharp. /A.sub..music-flat. and A.sup..music-sharp. /B.sub..music-flat. are separated by a whole tone, but the black key pairs D.sup..music-sharp. /E.sub..music-flat.- F.sup..music-sharp. /G.sub..music-flat. and A.sup..music-sharp. /B.sub..music-flat.- C.sup..music-sharp. /D.sub..music-flat. are separated by one and a half-tones (a minor third).
This configuration of the conventional keyboard requires the player to memorize a unique fingering for each scale of each of the twelve key signatures. For example, the C major scale (consisting of the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C) is played entirely on the white keys. The F major scale, which has one flatted key (B.sub..music-flat.) in its notes (F, G, A, B.sub..music-flat., C, D, E and F) requires one move to the row of black keys, and an immediate return to the white keys. The A.sub..music-flat. major scale (A.sub..music-flat., B.sub..music-flat., C, D.sub..music-flat., E.sub..music-flat., F, G and A.sub..music-flat.) begins with two black keys (A.sub..music-flat. and B.sub..music-flat.), then moves to the white keys for one note (C), returns to the black keys for two notes (D.sub..music-flat. and E.sub..music-flat.), moves again to the white keys for two more notes (F and G), and ends back on a black key (A.sub..music-flat.). This asymmetry of the conventional keyboard, and the resulting irregular fingering sequences, has been the object of much inventive effort.
Twelve note whole tone alternate keyboards have been offered as the answer to various difficulties created by the asymmetry of the conventional keyboard. Whole tone keyboards are arranged so that adjacent keys in a single row are separated by a musical whole tone and adjacent keys in adjacent rows are separated by a half-tone. McChesney U.S. Pat. No. 161,806 discloses a three-row whole tone keyboard where the keys of the first and third rows play the same notes. The keys of the McChesney keyboard are all uniform in size and shape in order to render the touch more uniform, secure and certain. Firestone U.S. Pat. No. 2,406,946 discloses two different whole tone keyboard configurations. A first keyboard has two rows of keys: a rearward row of six black keys, and a forward row of six white keys. A second keyboard is very similar to McChesney, having three-rows of uniformly sized keys with the first and third rows playing the same notes. These keyboards are used in conjunction with a completely rewritten system of music notation, varying the shapes of the bodies of the notes, and utilizing a new system of octave clefs having no accidental markings (sharps ".sup..music-sharp. " and flats ".sub..music-flat. "). Firestone U.S. Pat. No. 2,417,639 discloses a modified three-or four-row whole tone keyboard wherein the upper rows of keys are narrowed to facilitate certain fingering maneuvers.
The fingering advantages of the whole tone keyboard are only achieved when three or more rows of keys are provided. On a conventional three-row whole tone keyboard, those six of the twelve major scales beginning on notes in the middle row (C, D, E, F.sup..music-sharp. /G.sub..music-flat., G.sup..music-sharp. /A.sub..music-flat. and A.sup..music-sharp. /B.sub..music-flat.) are played using a single sequence of three keys in the middle row, followed by four keys in the upper row, and ending back on the middle row. Thus a C major scale begins with three keys in the middle row (C, D and E), followed by four keys in the upper row (F, G, A and B), and ends on the middle row (C). An A.sub..music-flat. major scale, which required four transitions between the black and white keys on the conventional keyboard, uses the same fingering sequence as the C scale on the graphic/tactile keyboard, beginning with three keys in the middle row (A.sub..music-flat., B.sub..music-flat. and C), followed by four keys in the upper row (D.sub..music-flat., E.sub..music-flat., F and G), and ending back in the middle row (A.sub..music-flat.). U.S. Pat. No. 2,406,946 blackens all of the keys of a single row, visually emulating the conventional keyboard. Adams U.S. Pat. No. 682,014 blackens adjacent groups of three keys in a single row and offsets said groups from similar groups in adjacent rows. Stewart U.S. Pat. No. 334,484 blackens and corrugates the tops of those keys in a flattened three-row whole tone keyboard which correspond to the conventional black notes. In Barlow U.K. Patent No. 6,647 (1906) the keys of a two row whole tone keyboard which correspond to the conventional black notes are lengthened when they are located in the upper row of keys, and are blackened when they appear in the lower row. None of the keyboard marking schemes which rely on color are capable of providing a tactile cue regarding keyboard position. Corrugation of the key surfaces certainly provides a tactile cue, but unfortunately slows the player's transitions to and from such corrugated keys, by increasing the resistance to movement of the fingers across the key surfaces. None of the tactile marking schemes simultaneously provide an effective tactile cue of keyboard position and of the presence of the notes played by the cued keys as black keys on the conventional keyboard.
"Improved" systems of music notation are easily as common as "improved" keyboards, and infinitely more varied and complex. Most such improvements begin by supplanting all or part of the conventional system of notation, at one stroke restricting the player to music annotated using the improved system. Barlow U.K. Patent No. 6,647 (1906), Adams U.S. Pat. No. 682,014, and Firestone U.S. Pat. No. 2,406,946 teach various such "improvements" on the conventional system of notation. No prior art notation system provides a simple yet effective indication of the row of a whole tone keyboard in which lies the key to be struck for each note, without completely supplanting the conventional system of notation with "improved" clefs, notes or other markings.